The show took place in Giorgio Armani’s home
It wasn’t for a lack of other venues that Giorgio Armani decided to invite show guests into his home for his mainline show this season. The underground runway room in Via Borgonuovo – adjacent to the one-lane swimming pool in which he does his morning laps – is where his most memorable shows from the 1980s took place. And while he isn’t wistful for the past, he does lament certain elements of today’s oversaturated fashion circus – a fact illustrated in the Emporio Armani show four days ago, ironically titled the Circus of Life. By allowing the industry into his inner sanctum, he wanted to make a point: “I think there is something special about getting together with the people you feel close to, in the cosiness of your own space, talking about things that really trigger your mind and your feelings,” he explained.
The collection was based on private spaces
The show opened with a mise-en-scène of three models relaxing, socialising and conversing in a homely, cushion-strewn setting at the root of a runway bathed in warm light. As they started walking, they showed off a lounge-y wardrobe that fused the elements of sleepwear with day and eveningwear. A silhouette largely built from long camisole dresses over second-skin trousers made for a pleasantly 1990s, quite Belgian take on Armani’s aesthetic: a covered-up-ness that felt modern. Echoing the cosiness of interiors, his textures were tactile: faux fur ponchos and gilets, micro-plissé dresses and trousers, tasseled blanket stoles, long shantung silk camis and pink pyjama suits that were very Krystle Carrington. Eventually, the relaxed silhouette transitioned into eveningwear with the moments of sparkle Armani can’t resist.
It was distinctly personal
“It's not a feeling of self-protection that pushes me towards warm and private spaces. Rather, it is a quest for something real: my response to the theatricality we are going through today, when everything needs to be constantly shared and exposed to everybody through digital media,” Armani said, explaining the home-core premise of the collection. “This is what I’m trying to convey with the intimate settings of my collection: it is a step towards something more authentic and more personal.” Was it also an expression of an Armani who is getting more personal with age? “Maybe with time I tend to show a little more of who I really am behind the reserved and severe façade. This is probably what you’re perceiving now more than in the past. The only way for me to do this job is to do it in a personal way. It’s always been like that, but maybe my softer side is now starting to peek through.”
It was inspired by the act of doing one’s make-up
Rendered in a powder palette, the collection adapted the colours of make-up in an added illustration of the intimacy Armani wanted to convey. For the finale, a model mimicked Rihanna’s powder compact moment from the Super Bowl two weeks ago, walking the runway while applying powder. “Make-up nuances can be very flattering, and I like the sense of intimacy of a woman applying her maquillage in the powder room,” he reflected. “I’m drawn towards everything that is private and that speaks about personality. The times we are living in are sometimes way too blatant and excessive, so I tend towards the opposite direction.”
It was a statement of anti-exaggeration
For Armani, the show was essentially a big statement on a fashion culture that often propels itself into a realm of costume over clothes and theatre over substance. “I am convinced that we have to move away from exaggeration, not only in the way we dress but in everyday life in general,” he said. “I have always believed in understatement, and today that is the most radical choice one can make. But it’s one that draws people close, and I think that what really matters is this sense of intimacy, of getting together, more than the pressure of showing off. To me it’s always been about focusing on the truly important things, about the virtues of editing and not of abundance.”
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